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Showtime Is No Longer Developing the Kingkiller Chronicle TV Show

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Showtime Is No Longer Developing the Kingkiller Chronicle TV Show

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Showtime Is No Longer Developing the Kingkiller Chronicle TV Show

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Published on September 16, 2019

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Looks like the Kingkiller Chronicle TV show is looking for a new home. The Hollywood Reporter has reported that the series’ producers are shopping it around to different networks after Showtime released the rights back to Lionsgate Television.

While the show is based on Patrick Rothfuss‘ ongoing fantasy trilogy, it isn’t a direct adaptation. According to THR, it’s actually an “origin story” set “a generation” before book 1, The Name of the Wind, and is supposed to be a tie-in to a feature film that will take on the contents of the books.

Both Showtime and Lionsgate refused to comment for THR‘s story, so it’s not clear why the network passed on the series, and it appears as though everything else is still going according to plan. Leverage creator John Rogers will write the pilot and act as showrunner while executive producing with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patrick Rothfuss himself, Robert Lawrence, and Jennifer Court. Miranda will also be scoring the series (and we still think it’d be really freaking cool if the Kingkiller Chronicle ended up being a musical).

While the Showtime pass is certainly discouraging, the crew seems pretty happy with the show they have in development. Back in April, Rothfuss (who’s still hard at work on Kingkiller book 3) heaped praise on the team.

“The TV show is always sort of a source of unexpected delight,” Rothfuss said in an interview for The Barnes & Noble Podcast, per Newsweek. “I have such respect for the writers’ room that they’ve put together, really genuinely lovely people.”

Meanwhile, Rogers said in an interview on the Daydrinking with Gary & Elliot podcast that the first Lin-Manuel Miranda song for the show made his assistant cry, and in May, he announced on Twitter that he’d wrapped up the first draft of the season one.

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5 years ago

I really, really wan to see book 3 BEFORE this show is released. Until then, I can’t get very excited about seeing ‘”prequel” material.

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Austin
5 years ago

Showtime probably asked Rothfuss to finish the last book before they committed and Rothfuss balked :P

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John
5 years ago

@2 after the reception to Game of Thrones ending I wouldn’t blame them

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5 years ago

Don’t care; finish the books.  Don’t care; finish the books.  Don’t care; finish the books.  Don’t care; finish the books…

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5 years ago

I’m curious, does it wind up being more money in the bank for the author when this happens? They get paid for the rights by a studio; when those rights are passed back, then they’re free to sell them elsewhere. Is that like selling the same car twice?  I think I can imagine how this actually works in a less beneficial way, but anyone know the process?

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5 years ago

@5, no, Lionsgate bought the rights and still retains them.  They just need a new network to air the damn thing now.

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5 years ago

The utter lack of patience and grace shown by so many of the Kingkiller Chronicle is just endlessly baffling to me. The story will come when it comes. It’s not like Rothfuss has ever toyed with fans, he’s been exceedingly transparent and you really can’t force creativity if you want quality. He’s given us some great tales, he’ll finish his story when he’s ready and it’ll be an exciting day to have the book in hand. This isn’t the first book that anyone has had to wait a decade plus for. In my experience that wait has been worth it and I trust Rothfuss to tell a great tale…on his own time. It’s not like there aren’t other wonderful stories to read, watch, and listen to in the mean time. Just because you want something in a certain order (gimme book not show!) or certain schedule doesn’t mean he’s obligated to provide. He’s promised a trilogy, I trust him to provide closure to this cool story, and that’s about all the obligation there is imo. Give the guy some peace and take your entitled demands to a store with mass produced products (or don’t because workers there don’t appreciate that attitude either and aren’t paid enough to deal with that crap).  

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Austin
5 years ago

@7 – “Exceedingly transparent?” Are you sure you’re thinking of the right author?

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5 years ago

@8 Yes. He’s kept channels of communication open year after year, responds to fans, streams, answers questions at live appearances etc. Just because the content of all of that isn’t what you want to hear doesn’t mean it’s not communication. He’s been honest about things that have proven to be obstacles to the book’s progress (his father passing, his mental health, these are very human, very reasonable things). He’s even done streams where he literally works on the book. I’m not sure how much more transparent you can be. 

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tromedlov87
5 years ago

@9 I think part of the problem is that we’ve been spoiled by Brandon Sanderson, who keeps literal percentage updates on how his writing is going, updates fans whenever there’s the slightest hint of a delay, and is extremely nice and prolific to boot. He’s so good about fan interaction and being transparent about everything possible that what other authors do feels… much less useful. Which isn’t really fair, absolutely, but that’s how it is.